Abstract
Worldwide, there are over 1700 electron beam (EB) units in commercial use, providing an estimated added value to numerous products, amounting to 100 billion USD or more. High-current electron accelerators are used in diverse industries to enhance the physical and chemical properties of materials and to reduce undesirable contaminants such as pathogens, toxic byproducts, or emissions. Over the past few decades, EB technologies have been developed aimed at ensuring the safety of gaseous and liquid effluents discharged to the environment. It has been demonstrated that EB technologies for flue gas treatment (SO x and NO x removal), wastewater purification, and sludge hygienization can be effectively deployed to mitigate environmental degradation. Recently, extensive work has been carried out on the use of EB for environmental remediation, which also includes the removal of emerging contaminants such as VOCs, endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs), and potential EDCs.
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Polish coauthor acknowledgments Ministry of Science and Higher Education, Poland, and International Irradiation Association for support under co-financed project W68/IIA/2015 “Fostering of scientific and R&D collaboration in the field of radiation technologies”.
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This article is part of the Topical Collection “Applications of Radiation Chemistry”; edited by Margherita Venturi, Mila D’Angelantonio.
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Chmielewski, A.G., Han, B. Electron Beam Technology for Environmental Pollution Control. Top Curr Chem (Z) 374, 68 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41061-016-0069-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41061-016-0069-4